INTRODUCTION TO BIOPSYCHOLOGY

Biopsychology - No vulnerability & higher amount of

● Scientific study of the biology of stress = No manifestation of
behavior Psychological Disorder
● “Psychobiology”, “Behavioral ● Gene Correlation Model -
biology”, “Behavioral Neuroscience” vulnerability of having depression
Psychoanalysis - theory of Freud since the genes is the one making
Psychodynamic - post theories like Erikson, the way
Horney Disorder - is biological because of bacteria
Hippocampus - learning & memory
Suppression - conscious forgetting 2. Cellular & Synaptic
Repression - unconsciously blocking ● structure, physiological properties,
unwanted thoughts & feelings and functions of single cells found
Fear - current stimulus within the nervous system
Anxiety - future stimulus ● Synapses
● The average human brain is made ○ These isolated cells would be
up of water up to 80% of no use unless they could
● The brain accounts for about 2% of forge connections
the body’s weight ● Synaptic neuroscience - examines
● The brain does not feel pain the strength and flexibility of neural
compared to the rest of the body connections, which underlie complex
because it lacks pain receptors (skin processes such as learning and
- has a lot of pain receptors) memory.
● After the age of 30, the brain shrinks
.25% in mass each year, however, 3. Network
the brain size does not affect our ● Forming of pathways
intelligence ● from “this structure engages in this
● The human brain is soft function” to “this structure
participates in a network connecting
5 Areas of Biopsy these other structures to engage in
1. Molecular this type of processing.”
● microscopic level ● Ex: Stress - may matrigger na brain
● explores the nervous system at the part (endocrine system) → blood
level of the molecules that serve as
its building blocks. 4. Behavioral
● neural cell physiology, ● Application all of the previous levels
psychopharmacology, and genetics of analysis, from the molecular up
● 60% of intelligence came from the through the network
mother (X chromosome) ● The relationship between biology
● Diathesis Stress Model: a small and behavior is reciprocal
amount of trigger, can cause
psychological disorder Brief History:
Depression Genity - if one of the parents Trephining/Trepanation
has depression → Diathesis

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➢ people tried to cure others by drilling to push a button as soon as they felt
holes in the skull a touch.

Mind-Body Dualism ➢ 1990–Present

➢ Renee Descartes ❖ Ramon y Cajal declares that the
➢ mind is neither physical nor nervous system is composed of
accessible to study through the separate cells; he shares the 1906
natural sciences. Nobel Prize with Camillo Golgi
❖ John Hughlings Jackson explains
Phrenology brain functions as a hierarchy, with
➢ Franz Josef Gall more complicated functions carried
➢ structure of people’s skulls could be out by higher levels of the brain
correlated with their individual ❖ Otto Loewi demonstrates chemical
personality characteristics and signaling at the synapse
abilities ❖ Charles Sherrington coins the term
synapse; he wins the Nobel Prize in
Alcohol 1932
- Most dangerous substance ❖ Sir John Eccles, Andrew Huxley, &
- Depressant Alan Hodgkin share the 1963 Nobel
- Decreases sexual performance Prize for their work in advancing our
ADHD understanding of the way neurons
- Stimulant communicate
❖ Bernard Katz receives the 1970
Modern Neuroscience Nobel Prize for his work on chemical
➢ Paul Broca (mid-1800s) transmission at the synapse
❖ discovers localization of speech ❖ Society for Neuroscience counts
production. about 38,000 members in 2016
❖ Illusion
❖ Hallucinations Major Divisions of Biopsychology
➢ No stimulus present 1. Physiological Psychology
➢ Ex: Auditory Hallucinations - ● neural mechanisms of behavior
Broca’s area; hearing their through the direct manipulation and
own thoughts (unconscious) recording of the brain in controlled
experiments
➢ Gustav Theodor Fritsch and
Eduard Hitzig (1870) 2. Psychopharmacology
❖ identify localization of motor function ● Manipulation of neural activity &
in the cerebral cortex. behavior with drugs
● Selective Serotonin Reuptake
➢ Hermann von Helmholtz Inhibitor (SSRI)
❖ demonstrated that the mind had a ○ Removes the blockage for
physical basis by asking participants the serotonin to flow

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○ Higher serotonin = Memory Research

hyperactivity Physiological Psychology - surgically
removing hippocampus
3. Neuropsychology Psychopharmacology - improving the
● psychological effects of brain memory by administering drugs
dysfunction in human patients Neuropsychology - damage to
● Ex: Giving certain images, but the hippocampus–incapable of forming new
patients can’t follow its basic memories
structure Psychophysiology - familiar face elicit
usual changes in autonomic nervous
4. Psychophysiology system
● Relations between physiological Cognitive Neuroscience - brain-imaging
activity & psychological processes in technology to observe changes in parts of
humans brain
Comparative Psychology - birds with
5. Cognitive Neuroscience larger hippocampi are more intelligent
● Neural bases of cognition, a term
that generally refers to higher Other Disciplines:
intellectual processes such as 1. Neuroanatomy
thought, memory, attention, & ● Study of the structure of the NS
complex perceptual processes
● Intellectual Disability 2. Neurochemistry
- Deficit in intellectual functioning thru ● Study of the chemical bases of
IQ test neural activity
- Mean score of IQ = 100, SD = 15 → ● Steroids - testosterone; Oxytocin -
below 70 there’s ID but not always love hormone
(1-2 SD)
● Delirium 3. Neuroendocrinology
○ Reversible ● Study of interactions between the
○ Disturbance in attention NS & the endocrine system
● Dementia
○ Irreversible 4. Neuropathology
○ Disturbance in cognitive ● Study of nervous system dysfunction
function
○ Major neurocognitive 5. Neuropharmacology
disorder ● Study of the effects of drugs on
○ Treatment: prevention neural activity

6. Comparative Psychology 6. Neurophysiology

● Focuses on the behavior of animals ● Study of the functions & activities of
in their natural environment the NS

Examples:

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Biological Explanations of Behavior

➔ Physiological Explanation
- Relates a behavior to the activity of
the brain & other organs
➔ Ontogenic Explanation
- Describes how a structure or
behavior develops
➔ Evolutionary Explanation
- Reconstructs the evolutionary
history of a structure or behavior
➔ Functional Explanation
- Describes why a structure or
behavior evolved

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